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Saturday, November 7, 2009

In My Mailbox This Week!

I am fascinated by The Secret Ministry of Frost by Nick Lake. You can't tell from the picture but the front and back covers have this holographic sparkle, like some types of wrapping paper. It makes the book seem icy. It also came with a little note that said, "Mandy--I loved this one!", from our publishing representative, who also put me on to Hush Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick. So I'm excited about her newest recommendation. AND I realize that Nick Lake is also the author of another book I received recently, Blood Ninja (vampires and ninjas? Oh yes). Oh, and there's a Narwhal on the spine of the book...love it.

The book itself (sorry, sometimes I get so wrapped up in book design) reminds me of Geraldine McCaughrean's The White Darkness. Light's father disappears into the Arctic and the Inuit folklore she's read comes to life. Light herself is half-Inuit, albino, and heir to a huge estate. So, a unique premise. Also, flipping through, there are journal excerpts, expedition notes, blog entries, AND more Narwhals. Looks very cool. (Simon and Schuster)

Borderline by Allan Stratton is another one I didn't know anything about. The author wrote Chanda's Wars, which won a bunch of awards. Oh, and the first book, Chanda's Secrets, is a Michael Printz Honor Book. Borderline is about Sami, the only Muslim kid at school, and the drama that happens when his family is accused of an international terror plot. He's be suspicious of his dad for a while now, and his whole world is turned upside down. Heady stuff. It's being published in February in Canada, I think Spring in the U.S., by Harper Collins.

I've seen Beautiful by Amy Reed around the blogs online. I love the cover. It was published in October of this year by Simon Pulse, an imprint of Simon and Schuster. Probably one of my favourite imprints, too. Cassie moves from a small town to a large city and decides to shed her good-girl persona. She's swept up by her new existence, terrified by the downward spiral of drug abuse and social dangers. It's funny, the cover doesn't really convey this. But R.A. Nelson (author of Teach Me, which I haven't heard of) said that Beautiful "is raw, gritty, and powerful, an intense ice-pick jab to the heart". Sounds really good, but wrenching.

And The Vinyl Princess by Yvonne Prinz. It's available in December, published by Harper Collins. Allie is a music junkie and gets a job at a record store in California. She falls in love and blogs (!) as The Vinyl Princess. On the back it says, "Not since Nick Hornby's High Fidelity has a book so perfectly captured the quirky world of true music fandom". Seems very cool.

Any narwhal is good narwhal. Excited to hear what you have to say! Also, all this icy talk reminds me... I am starting Ice this week, in an effort to not let myself get distracted from reading by writing!